Safety container closure



J. PASQUARIELLO 2,772,803

SAFETY CONTAINER CLOSURE Filed Dec. 27, 1954 INVENTOR. JZMEsPnsaun/e/suo QTTOPA/EY United States Patent Ofiice 21,772,803 PatentedDec. 4, 1956 SAFETY CONTAINER CLOSURE James Pasquariello, Paterson, N.J., assignor of twelve percent to Frank P. Bello, Paterson, N. L, andtwentyeight percent to Robert Pogasnik, Bridgeport, Conn.

Application December 27, 1954, Serial No. 477,77 0

4 Claims. (Cl. 215-43) accidentally removed from the container to openthe same, and the difficulty of removal of the closure is such thatsmall children cannot accomplish it.

Almost every household contains substances such as drugs and the like towhich children should not have free access. Further, adults when in ahurry or paying insuflicient attention sometimes take drugs which areinjurious or poisonous. It is, therefore, desirable that at least someof the containers around the house should have closures which arediflicult to open, so much so that a small child cannot accomplish itand that an adult cannot open the container without taking extraordinarysteps, thereby alerting him to the dangerous nature of the substance inthe container.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a rugged,simply made, inexpensive safety closure for containers.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a compactsafety closure which does not add unduly to the height of the cappedcontainer, and which is not unsightly or bulky. Yet another object ofthe invention, in one embodiment thereof, resides in the provision of asafety closure wherein the relatively movable parts may be positivelylocked together to apply the closure to a container but tend to becomeunlocked from each other upon removal of the closure from the container,and require conscious and substantial eflort to manipulate the closureto remove it from the container. A still further object of theinvention, in a second disclosed embodiment thereof, is to provide acontainer closure which requires substantial conscious eifort on thepart of the manipulator to secure the parts together against relativerotation during the steps of both applying the closure to and removingit from a container. 9 The above and further objects of the inventionwill more fully appear upon consideration of the following disclosure ofpreferred embodiments thereof.

My invention is clearly defined in the appended claims. In the claims,as well as in the description, parts are at times identified by specificnames for clarity and con venience, but such nomenclature is to beunderstood as having the broadest meaning consistent with the contextand with the concept of my invention as distinguished from the pertinentprior art. The best form in which I have contemplated applying myinvention is. illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part ofthis specification, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the closureapplied to the neck of a bottle, only a fragment of the bottle beingshown.

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the corn tainer closure ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical axial section through the assembled closure of Fig.l, the neck of the bottle being shown in dot and dash lines, the lockingdog of the closure being shown in elevation.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the first embodiment of the closure, a part ofthe top of the outer member of the closure being broken away.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to but on a smaller scale than that of Fig. 4of a second embodiment of the closure of the invention.

The container closure of the invention is provided with an inner,container-engaging part which closes the opening in the container neck,the inner part of the closure being effectively hooded by an outer,finger and thumb manipulated part. The inner and outer parts of theclosure selectively are freely rotatable with respect to each other, orthey may be locked together for joint rotation when the closure isapplied to and removed from the container. When the container parts arefreely rotatable with respect to each other, the applied closure cannotbe removed from the container, and it is only upon the exercise ofconscious effort and considerable force that the closure parts can belocked together to allow removal of the closure from the container. Theclosure is thus useful with containers having screw threaded necks orcontainers employing bayonet type closures in which a component of theclosure applying and removing motion is circular.

In the accompanying drawing, Figs. 1 through 4 depict a first embodimentof the closure, and Fig. 5 shows a second embodiment thereof. In Figs. 1through 4, the closure is generally, designated 10. In Figs. 1 and 3,the closure is shown as applied to the threaded neck of a bottlegenerally designated 11.

Closure 10 has an outer cup-like portion 13 having an externallyvertically corrugated side wall 12 and a transverse top portion 14. Theclosure has an inner cup-like portion 15 telescoped within portion 13with the transverse end walls of the two portions in confrontingrelationship as shown in Fig. 3. The inner surface of side wall 16 ofthe inner part 15 is provided with a helical rib 17 to engage betweenthe lands of the thread on the outside of the bottle neck. The outerpart of the closure effectively hoods the inner part, and the two partsare rotatably held against separation by the external shoulder 21 on thebottom of wall 16 of the inner part which is in engagement with theshallow inwardly projecting flange 24 on the bottom of wall 12 of theouter part. Side wall 12 is radially enlarged at zone 22 above flange 24to receive the shoulder 21. The two parts 13 and 15, which may be madeof suitable materials such as metal or plastic material, may beassembled as shown in Fig. 3 by telescoping the parts together andmomentarily deforming them at the lower edge of their side walls toallow shoulder 21 to snap past flange 24.

The parts 13 and 15 of the closure may be selectively locked togetherfor joint rotation by operation of the laterally reciprocabledog 25,non-rotatably held with respect to part 13, the dog cooperating with aclutchlike portion of part 15. Closure part 15, as clearly shown in Fig.2, has a central recess 20 in its top 19. The dog 25 rests upon thebottom of recess 20. Such dog has a horizontal plate portion 26 fromwhich there rises the thumb operated key or tab 27, generally square inplan, which projects through the rectangular, diametrally disposedopening 29 in the top 14 of part 13. A tail 28 projects rearwardly fromplate portion 26 beyond key 27. Opening 29 is disposed somewhateccentrically of end wall 14, so that when the key 27 abuts the morecentral end thereof the dog 25 is in central, inoperative positionwithdrawn from the clutchlike portion of part 15, and that when the dogis posi tioned in its other terminal position, shown in Fig. 3, it isadvanced into contact with such clutch-like portion to lock the twoclosure parts from relative rotation. The tail 28 lies beneath portion14 of member 13 in both terminal positions of the dog to maintain thedog stably in position.

Portion 26 of dog 25 has a sharp corner 30 and an oblique corner 31. Thenose of the dog, including corner 30 and surface 31, is receivable inone or more radial recesses 32 (four shown) in the side walls of thecentral recess 20 on the top of closure part 15. When it is desired toapply the closure to th threaded neck of a container, the user slidesthe dog into the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and then, grasping sidewall 12 of the outer closure part, screws the closure onto the containerneck. Because the surface 35 of the recess 32 receiving the nose of thedog lies generally radial, the sharp corner 30 of the dog when onceengaged with wall 35 tends to remain in the position shown when theclosure is turned clockwise in Fig. 4 to screw the closure onto thecontainer.

The radially inner end of oblique surface 31 on the end of the dog liessomewhat inwardly of the radially inner edge of the then trailing sidwall 36 of recess 32. Accordingly, assuming that the closure has beentightly screwed onto the container neck, rotation of the outer containerpart 13 in a counterclockwise direction, when it is attempted to unscrewthe closure from the bottle, imposes a substantial thrust upon the dog25 in the direction from left to right in Fig. 4. As a consequence, itrequires substantial conscious effort on the part of the user tomaintain the nose of the dog 25 within recess 32 and thus parts 13 and15 connected for joint rotation when the outer closure part is beingturned counterclockwise. This normally requires that the thumb shallengage and urge key 27 to the left and that the outer side wall of part13 of the closure shall be engaged between the index and second fingersof the hand. Not only is the force required to maintain the dog 25 inits left-hand terminal position more than that of which a small child iscapable, but the positioning of the fingers and thumb, being diiterentfrom that used to unscrew the ordinary cap, presents a problem which hecannot solve. The removal'of the cap also, being somewhat morecomplicated than that of the ordinary cap, also serves to warn an adultthat the substance in the bottle is dangerous.

The safety closure of the second embodiment, shown in Fig. 5, isdesignated 10. erally the same parts as those in the first describedembodiment, such parts being designated by the same reference charactersas those in Figs. I through 4. In Fig. 5, as shown, the central recess49 on the top of the transverse end wall of the inner closure part has aseries of similar scalloped recesses 41 around its border. Adjacentrecesses 41 meet at points 42 which lie on a circle coaxial of theclosure. The upper transverse wall 14 on the outer closure part isprovided, as before, with an 'eccentrically disposed diametral slot 2%slidably and nonrotatably receiving the dog actuating key 27 whichprojects upwardly therethrough. The locking dog, generally designated44, has a horizontal plate-like portion 45 provided with a nose 46 whichis complementary to the recesses 41. v

The closure of Fig. '5, because of the symmetry of the recesses 41 andof the nose 46 of the dog, operates in essentially the same manner uponscrewing the closure onto the container neck as it does upon unscrewingof the closure therefrom. In both instances the interaction between theside walls of recesses 41 and the nose 46 of the dog is such that, uponthe turning of the outer part of the closure when resistance to turningis imposed upon the inner part thereof, a marked force to thrust the dogto the right (Fig. results. With such closure, therefore, a substantialconscious effort. is required to hold the dog in the position of Fig.5', inwhich it connects Such closure employs gen- 4 the inner and outerclosure parts for joint rotation, both when applying it to the containerand removing it therefrom.

I claim:

1. A safety cap for containers having an externally threaded neckcomprising: a first, outer cup-like member having a transverse upperend, a second, inner cup-like container neck engaging member having atransverse upper end telescoped within the first member with the closedends of each member confronting each other, said second member having athread engaging means on its inner side wall, means rotatably connectingthe two members against separation, the transverse upper end of thesecond member having a large central recess in its upper surface, a dogmounted in said recess for reciprocation radially thereof, meansretaining the dog from rotation with respect to the first member, thewall of the recess having at least one dog receiving depression, andthumbengageable operating means having a stem rectangular in sectionconnected to the dog and projecting through an elongated opening'in thetransverse wall of the first member in which the stem fits slidably butnon-rotatahly to move the dog into and out of said depression.

2. In the combination set forth in claim 1, the depression having acurved wall which is generally symmetrical about a radius of the cap,the dog having a nose which is generally similarly curved and receivablein said depression.

3. A safety closure for containers comprising a first, outer cup-likemember having a transverse upper end, a second, inner cup-likcontainer-engaging member having a transverse upper end telescopedwithin the first member with the closed ends of each member confrontingeach other, means rotatably connecting the two members againstseparation, and manually operated means for selectively connecting the.two rnembersfor joint rotation comprising a dog mounted between thetransverse ends of the two members, means mounting the dog for lateralshifting with respect to the first member, the dog having a noseportion, the second member having at least one recess into which thenose of the dog may project, and thumb-engageable operating means havinga stem rectangular in section connected to the dog and projectingthrough an elongated opening in the transverse wall of the first memberin which the stem fits slidably but nonrotatably to move the nose of thedog into and out of said recess.

4. A safety closure for containers comprising a first, outer cup-likemember having a transverse upper end, a second, inner cup-likecontainer-engaging member having a transverse upper end telescopedwithin the first member with the closed ends of each member confrontingeach other, means rotatably connecting the two members againstseparation, and manually operated means for se lectively connecting thetwo members for joint rotation comprising a dog mounted between thetransverse ends of the two members, means mounting the dog for lateralshifting with respect to the first member, the dog having a noseportion, the second member having at least one depression into which thenose of the dog may project, and thumb-engageable operating meansconnected to the dog and projecting through an elongated opening in thetransverse wall of the first member to move the nose of the dog intovand out of said depression, the depression having walls disposedgenerally radially of the cap, the corner of the nose on the dog whichleads when the cap is screwed onto the container being sharp and theside of the nose which leads when the cap is unscrewed from thecontainer being oblique to the axis of the dog.

Hanahan Oct. 3, 1944 ,Coleman Aug. 7, 19.45

